EDMONDS — The famed Russian Grand Ballet Theatre is set to perform Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” on Oct. 26 at the Edmonds Center for the Arts.
The ballet company is on a tour of 35 North American cities.
The Grand Ballet was founded by graduates from the great Russian choreographic schools in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev.
The principal dancers of the company came from the upper ranks of the great classical Russian ballet companies and academies. Today, the Russian Grand Ballet Theatre is its own institution, with more than 50 dancers.
The touring troupe brings the ballet to life with a full-length production, under the direction of ballet master Vladimir Troshchenko.
Olga Kifyak will be dancing the roles of Odette, the white swan, and Odile, the black swan. Eugeniy Svetlitsa will perform the role of Prince Siegfried. Antonina Radiyevskaya, Viktoriya Velasquez and Constantine Mayorov will perform the well-known “Pas de Trois” for the tour.
“There’s a good reason why Swan Lake is so often called the ‘ballet of all ballets’ — the combination of pure romanticism, the story about love and deception, and Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet music all continue to reach new generations of audiences,” Troshchenko said in a news release from the company. “Edmond’s growing art scene makes it the perfect location for the Russian Grand Ballet’s ‘Swan Lake’ performance. It is an incredible opportunity for both the younger and older generations to experience the arts and enjoy a ballet classic.”
The story of Swan Lake, based on Russian folklore and German legend, follows a heroic young prince as he works to free the beautiful swan maiden from an evil spell. The choreography is based on the work of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, and is performed in three acts with two intermissions.
While ballet is a product of French culture, the Russians claimed it for their own, said Troshchenko, especially when Tchaikovsky began composing ballets.
The earliest of the “Big Three” Russian ballets, Swan Lake is an important part of the repertoire of all of the major classical ballet companies in the world, said artistic director Constantine Pinchuk. The music is recognizable. It is a beautiful fairy tale. And dancing the lead in Swan Lake is like climbing Mount Everest or playing Hamlet.
The Russian Grand Ballet Theatre is an international project, so the troupe includes dancers from Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Moldova, Japan, Germany and other countries. Even while on tour the members of the company take dance lessons each day.
Those who attend the performance in Edmonds will want to note that the famous dance of the swans is very difficult, Pinchuk said. “It is danced in unison holding onto other dancers while on pointe. The dance was meant to imitate the way cygnets huddle and move together for protection. Four dancers enter in a line and move across the stage with their arms crossed in front of one another, grasping the next dancer’s hand. They move sideways, doing 16 pas de chat, ideally in exact unison.”
A few facts
A male dancer in the Russian Grand Ballet lifts nearly 2 tons worth of ballerinas during performances.
Most ballerinas wear out two pairs of pointe shoes each week.
One tutu costs up to $2,000 to make and requires more than a week of labor and more than 100 yards of ruffle.
If you go
Russian Grand Ballet Theatre performs at 7 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 401 Fourth Ave. N. Tickets start at $45. Call the box office at 425-275-9595 or go to www.edmondscenterforthearts.org.
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